Alberta’s Sheriff Highway Patrol (SHP) has released some data on the arrests that were made and the tickets that were handed out throughout 2023.
SHP were given the authority to investigate impaired driving and other criminal offences back in 2021. Since then they’ve removed almost 4,000 impaired drivers from provincial highways.
In 2023 alone, SHP took over 1,200 impaired drivers from the roads and handed out almsot 60,000 tickets. Police say that 50 of these impaired driving charges were for people behind the wheel of commercial vehicles.
“Impaired driving is considered the leading criminal cause of death in Canada,” said Mike Ellis, minister of public safety and emergency services. “By empowering the Sheriff Highway Patrol to take impaired drivers off our highways, Alberta’s government is helping make our roads safer for everyone who uses them.”
SHP also conducted over 12,000 inspections on commercial vehicles, finding violations in 39 per cent of the vehicles that were inspected.
Expanding SHP authority was made to help strengthen law enforcement presence in remote and rural areas in the province. New funding will also be used to train SHP members to work alongside the RCMP.
